How to make the most of your summer vacations.

Summer vacation is a long time that can be utilized for a host of activities like learning a new language, taking up online lessons or learning a new skill, taking up an internship for a professional experience or travelling for a change of environment and a break from the normal routine. To help you make the most of it, we would like to suggest a few ideas for summer activities. There are a lot of activities to choose from depending upon varied interests and capabilities. Few of the activities are listed below:

1.Try learning online.

The most productive way to utilize your break is to join a professional course that can add on to your skill set. There are several MOOC platforms to choose from like Udacity(Nanodegree Programs), Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/) , EdX (edX), MIT OCW (Free Online Course Materials), NPTEL(NPTEL), etc. One can take courses on Mathematics, Data Structures, Algorithms, Linux, Security, Cryptography, Python, Machine Learning and Game Development. These courses are basic and you can easily learn from them. They will help you strengthen your fundamentals with a user-friendly interface and an enjoyable learning environment.

2.Try your hands on competitive programming

Practice competitive programming on different online judges like CodeChef (Programming Competition, Programming Contest, Online Computer Programming), HackerRank (HackerRank), Codeforces (Codeforces), etc. Competitive programming is a great way to hone your problem-solving skills. For beginners, Hackerrank is a great platform to begin with. Try solving implementation based problems. For experienced coders, taking part in online contests and reading editorials is the best way to hone your programming skills.

3. Do Creative Stuff

This is the time when you are not burdened with exams or assignments. Take out time and build stuff. With your hands (paint or sketch ), with your pen (stories, a crazy blog, anything), or on your computer (Photoshop, Web Design etc). You can learn Web Development from W3Schools Online Web Tutorials or Android from Android Tutorial. There are tons of other things you can learn from the internet. Start developing some hobby like photography or anything which can make you special in your group. This is perhaps the best time for pursuing a hobby which you always wished to but could not do due to busy college life.

4. Internship

If you already have done a course on Android or on Web Development, then it is the perfect time to do an internship.You can go to internshala.com, interntheory and switchidea.com for finding a suitable internship. If you do not have skills for an internship then, exploring digital marketing and content writing is also beneficial for the resume.

5. Open source contributions

You can start with open source contributions. It is the best way to improve your programming and development skills. Try finding an open source project whose code base is easy for you to understand and get your hands dirty into some code. Engineers who have contributed to any open source project automatically get ahead of thousands of students, so first explore Github platform and try contributing to any Google Summer of Code Project.

6. Social Volunteering

This will be the best for someone to do in their holidays There are a plenty of people that may need your help. A little generosity shown can change someone’s life forever. There are poor kids who don’t have enough resources to afford education you can help them by taking classes. Plenty of deserving causes need any help they can get so, with a bit of spare time on your hands you can bring in some big changes. Whether it’s reading to kids at the local library or teaching them about healthy living, the outcome is the same: you add to society in a hands-on way. From hospitals to homeless shelters and puppies to people, pick something you care about and contribute to the greater good.

7.Get a membership at a local library:

Reading is a very good habit and always benefits you in one way or the other. If you don’t have anything else to do then reading can be an interesting option. Spend some time there reading books that you like and are interested in. Novels, magazines, encyclopedias, non-fiction. Reading is a very good habit and always benefits you in one way or the other. If you don’t have anything else to do then reading can be an interesting option. Spend some time there reading books that you like and are interested in. Novels, magazines, encyclopedias, non-fiction books, and a lot more is there for you to read for free. Pick what you like and read on. Also, libraries offer exciting quizzes and debate competition during summer vacation time. Lots of libraries also have summer reading clubs, so consider joining one of those if you enjoy reading.

8.Hang out with Family and Friends

Holidays are perhaps the best time to reunite with old friends, share old memories and enjoy to the fullest. Making best use of free time is important but having fun and getting refreshed is equally important. Going for an adventure trip with friends can be fun-filled and refreshing.

Whatever way you choose to spend your vacations, don’t forget to make it worthwhile.